National Democrats have eye on North Carolina's 13th Congressional seat

Democrats at the grassroots and institutional level are mobilizing to turn North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District blue, but maneuvering to elevate the party’s handpicked candidate threatens bad blood before the primary has even gotten underway.

When Abby Karp went on the Swing Left website and plugged in her address to find her nearest swing district, she made a startling discovery: She was in one.

Immediately after the 2016 election, Karp had gone into frantic resistance mode. Along with most of her friends, she was horrified to learn that Donald Trump would be the next president.

“I must have called my congressman a hundred times, and there were all kinds of different groups coming together,” said Karp, who is the associate dean of academics at American Hebrew Academy in Greensboro. “My wife and I really got into the calls and cards. We went organization shopping.”

A neighbor whose property backs up to hers in Greensboro’s Lindley Park called a meeting to start a local chapter of Swing Left. Founded by Ethan Todras-Whitehill, a writer and teacher in Amherst, Mass., Swing Left adopted the goal of breaking Republican control of the US House as the most effective way to counteract the Trump agenda. Todras-Whitehill wanted to help other progressives like himself who lived in deep blue areas of the country find competitive Republican-held districts to target their activism.

Read more: https://triad-city-beat.com/national-dems-have-eye-north-carolinas-13th-congressional-seat/